The Offshore Renewable Energy Emergency Forum (OREEF) has released new good practice guidance to improve how emergency beacons are registered, managed, and used across UK offshore renewable energy sites. Developed in response to concerns raised by HM Coastguard, the guidance tackles avoidable risks stemming from inconsistent beacon logging, unfamiliarity with activation and reporting procedures, and the use of unregistered or unknown device types. Together, OREEF members have turned those lessons into practical steps that make emergency response faster, clearer, and safer for everyone offshore.
Why this matters
Emergency beacons—such as Personal Locator Beacons (PLB), AIS Man‑Overboard (MOB) devices and other satellite locating beacons—are vital in alerting and locating people at risk. Yet, in recent years, sites have encountered recurring problems: incorrect or incomplete registration details; patchy, out‑of‑date onsite logs; and uncertainty over what to do when a beacon activates, especially if it is a false alarm. Each of these issues can delay response, complicate coordination, and increase risk to rescuers and those in distress.
A collaborative response to practical problems
Following a Coastguard letter to OREEF highlighting these concerns, members formed a short‑term working group to co‑create a pragmatic, site‑ready solution. The result is new good practice guidance that standardises beacon management across the project lifecycle—including construction phases with transient workforces—so that Marine Coordinators, Duty Managers and offshore teams have the right information at their fingertips, 24/7.
The guidance focuses on four areas where collaboration delivers immediate safety gains:
Registration: All 406 MHz beacons should be registered with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency using the UK Beacon Registry. Accurate, current details help Coastguard teams validate alerts quickly and coordinate the right assets, especially when activations are false alarms.
Record‑keeping: Sites should maintain a robust, accessible log for all beacon types in use onsite (including contractor devices), capturing serial numbers, make/model, beacon type (e.g., AIS or 406), battery expiry, holder/assignee, PPE associations, location, and 24‑hour points of contact.
Decommissioning: When a beacon is withdrawn or reaches end‑of‑life, it must be deregistered and disposed of per manufacturer guidance to avoid stray activations—often found later in refuge areas.
Response to activation: Treat every activation as real until proven otherwise; notify HM Coastguard immediately (including for false alarms); ensure the caller has the beacon identification details and last known location; deactivate false activations promptly; and keep live beacons transmitting until all personnel are confirmed safe under the site ERP.
Raising standards together
The working group has aligned the guidance with existing international and national expectations and will continue to refine it with wider industry input. It recommends incorporating beacon scenarios into regular drills and exercises, ensuring Marine Coordination teams rehearse the communications and decision‑making cadence expected in real incidents. It also signposts international guidance on training and the operation of emergency personal radio devices in multiple‑casualty situations, reinforcing how disciplined use reduces interference with search‑and‑rescue communications.
Crucially, the guide discourages non‑automatic activation beacons on sites and emphasises that, regardless of whether an alert later proves false, Coastguard notification should never be skipped. That cultural consistency across developers, operators, OFTOs, OEMs, and contractors is what turns individual good practice into sector‑wide improvement.
OREEF’s role and what comes next
OREEF brings together developers, operators, regulators and emergency response specialists to share learning and drive coherent, practical improvements in emergency preparedness. This beacon initiative showcases how that collaboration converts frontline feedback into clear, adoptable actions. OREEF members will keep gathering operational insights, exercise outcomes and near‑miss learning to update the guidance over time—sustaining the cycle of improvement that offshore safety depends on.
How to engage
Download the guidance: OREEF emergency beacon use good practice | OEER
Register 406 MHz beacons: UK Beacon Registry — https://www.gov.uk/register-406-beacons
Share feedback: OREEF welcomes practical insights from exercises and live responses to help refine the guidance for future editions. https://oeer.uk/contact/